Accessing the New Capital Market Using Cryptoassets
15:45 - 16:05, 8th of May (Wednesday) 2019/ Growth
In the past, capital market investment was limited to those HNW or institutional investors who had the capacity to invest large amounts of money, especially for those who invested with VC’s. So, the everyday retail investor did not have the means in which to invest these amounts. Retail investors were limited to investing indirectly into a group of companies such as investing in small and mid-cap mutual funds.
SME’s also had limited access to funding. 90% of all SME’s did not have access to funding provided by banks, VC’s, etc. Moreover, these companies would have to give up part ownership and/or many times at least partial control of the management of their company.
There is a need that needs to be met for both the retail investor, the startups and SME’s. Tokenization through blockchain is the means to allow both startups and SME’s and retail investors to be able to access capital markets efficiently. Tokenization is a method that converts rights to an asset into a digital token that reside on the blockchain. The blockchain allows a level of transparency that has not existed before within financial systems. This new capital market allows more transparency, efficient transactions, and instant settlement which will offer new opportunities never before offered."